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Wildfires in U.S.

LOS ANGELES: Wildfires, fuelled by a heat wave, have burned large areas of land in western U.S., forcing the evacuation of residents and the closure of highways, fire officials said on Saturday. There have been reports of fires in California, Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada and Washington, indication that this will be a long, smoky summer. A 160-km stretch of Interstate 15 in central Utah was closed when a 160,000-acre wildfire jumped the highway. Meanwhile, three lightning-sparked wildfires burned unchecked on Saturday in the Inyo National Forest in California, forcing officials to shut down 160 km of U.S. Highway 395, the gateway to the eastern Sierra Nevada. In Winnemucca, northern Nevada, hundreds of people were ordered to leave their homes after a wildfire charred 8,000 acres. In Utah, a fire about 190 km south of Salt Lake City went unchecked, forcing evacuations. — AP

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